WOW! The newly elected CongressCriminal from Oklahoma has figured out the deal of the new millenia...he wants to practice medicine while being a Senator. Innocuous? Perhaps. But it seems to violate a long-standing Senate rule (feh, who needs rules when you're in the Party of the Fearless One?) against having employment and being a legislator.

Is it good for the republic that serving in Congress must be treated as a full-time job?

Newly elected Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma thinks not. And Coburn, who is also a physician, has already announced he will challenge a long-standing rule that bars him from continuing to practice medicine once he takes the oath of office Tuesday.
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A significant number of conservative political thinkers agree that the country would benefit from a return to the tradition of the public servant who also remains a private citizen. That, it is argued, is the model handed down by the Founding Fathers.

George Washington continued to operate his Virginia plantation, Mount Vernon, while commanding the Continental Army and serving two terms in the White House. John Hancock, a wealthy Boston merchant, did not abandon his business interests because he signed the Declaration of Independence and worked to establish the new nation.

And Robert Morse, the New York financier, explicitly stipulated when he took over the challenge of financing the American Revolution that he would continue his private business dealings as well.

That is the pattern Coburn hopes to follow, and he argues that it will make him a better public servant.

Let's correctly I would assume, figure out the real implications of this move and its supporters by citing one name: Billy Tauzin. Any bets if he could continue to be a legislator and shill for fun and immense profit he would not have given up his seat?

I think Congress should change the law," said Cleta Mitchell, a partner at the Washington law firm of Foley & Lardner who has represented members of Congress before both the Senate and House ethics committees.

Mitchell, formerly an activist for term limits, said she found it "abominable" that the unearned income of members of Congress was not limited, while earned income was held to less than $23,715 a year above the annual $157,100 salary.

The system, Mitchell said, favors millionaire lawmakers. "If you are a working stiff or a practicing physician, the law says you're not supposed to be allowed to continue earning income" above the limit, Mitchell said. "What Coburn is trying to do is very laudable."

And I like the part where Ms. Mitchell is described as "formerly an activist for term limits". I guess now that the party of her choice is now in power, it's not such a pressing issue to advocate for anymore. I wonder if Senator DR MR The Honorable WhatzisAss will be hired as a "medical consultant" by the health care industry while in office, the deal brokered of course, by an unnamed, but friendly K-Street Knight to be named later.